GERMANY - Best of Europe 2014 - page 741

ridefromBerlin(over7hours),considertakingacheapflightinstead(buyitwellinadvance
to get a super fare).
Night trains run from Berlin to these cities: Munich, Paris, Amsterdam, Vienna, Bud-
apest, Malmö (Sweden, near Copenhagen), Basel, and Zürich. There are no night trains
from Berlin to anywhere in Italy or Spain. A Liegeplatz, a.k.a. couchette berth (€13-36),
is a great deal; inquire at EurAide at the Hauptbahnhof for details. Beds generally cost the
same whether you have a first- or second-class ticket or railpass. Trains are often full, so re-
serve your couchette a few days in advance from any travel agency or major train station in
Europe.
By Plane
Berlin will soon whittle down its three airports to a single main hub, the new Willy
Brandt Berlin-Brandenburg International, which may open in 2014 (airport code: BER,
tel. [phone]), designed to handle all air traffic for the area. (For British Air, tel.
01805-266-522; Delta, tel. [phone]; SAS, tel. [phone]; Lufthansa, tel.
01803-803-803.)
Located about 13 miles from central Berlin, next to the formerly busy Schönefeld Air-
port,it'llbeconnectedtothecitycenterbyfastandfrequentAirportExpressregional trains
(ignore the S-Bahn, as there are no direct S-Bahn trains to the city center; likewise, buses to
the U-Bahn lines make little sense for anyone heading straight into central Berlin). The air-
port station (Flughafen Berlin BrandenburgBahnhof) sits directly under the terminal, a five-
minute walk from the airlines' check-in desks. To reach my recommended hotels in eastern
Berlin, take the RE7 or RB14 to Alexanderplatz (2/hour, 25 minutes, direction: Dessau or
Nauen); for my hotels in western Berlin, take either of those trains to Zoologischer Garten
(40 minutes). Two additional trains per hour connect the airport to the main train station, via
Potsdamer Platz (RE9, 30 minutes). Any train into the city center costs €3 (railpasses val-
id—butdon'tuseupatravel dayjustforthistrip).Buyyourticket atamachine andvalidate
it before boarding by stamping it in one of the nearby boxes. A taxi to the city center costs
about €35 (same rates 24/7).
If you happen to be arriving before the new airport is fully operational, you may find
yourself at Tegel Airport , four miles from the center (airport code: TXL). Bus #TXL goes
between the airport, the Hauptbahnhof (stops by Washingtonplatz entrance), and Alexander-
platzineasternBerlin.ForwesternBerlin,takebus#X9toBahnhofZoo,orslowerbus#109
to Ku'damm and Bahnhof Zoo (€2.30). Bus #128 goes to northern Berlin. A taxi from Tegel
Airport costs €15 to Bahnhof Zoo, or €25 to Alexanderplatz (taxis from Tegel levy a €0.50
surcharge).
Berlin is the continental European hub for budget airlines such as easyJet (lots of
flights to Spain, Italy, Eastern Europe, the Baltics, and more—book long in advance to get